superstoner1
Well-Known Member
Make sure to get aquashield as u never want to run h2o2 with pure blend pro and silica blast is about the best additive u can use. It makes for very strong branches and almost eliminates the need for support.
Preparing for first hydro grow any advice?
- Thread starter Tokindaily37
- Start date
Tokindaily37
Well-Known Member
lol using 8 botanicare nutrients, I wish I had a degree in horticulture and knew what elements did what to plants It seems weird botanicare has 8 products and fox farm has 3, are they more advanced in their studies, or are they making abunch of products instead of adding them all in one like fox farm might(not saying they do!) but just curious haha But thanks for the advice
superstoner1
Well-Known Member
Try it. The results are great and after smoking for over thirty years it is the best tasting buds ive seen.
Malevolence
New Member
Botanicare has 2 base pure blend pro nutes... grow and bloom.
Silica, bennies, cal/mag is stuff you want to have on hand anyway whether it's botanicare or not.
Foliar spray (Liquid Karma), carbs (Sweet), bud hardners / bloom boosters (Hydroplex), flushing agents (Clearex) are not required with a complete base nute & tuned ppm, and are pretty much up to you.
I have never used their base nutes, so can't say how that goes, but if ss says it's good shit, you're pretty safe. Hell, you guys have me thinking about the shit now... I've been wanting to go more organic mostly for flavor, and Botanicare seems like the best compromise you can get in DWC. The thought of organic coco hempy bucket or soil is just not doing it for me. At the moment, I'm dialed in with DG bloom and protekt and don't want to go dicking with shit that works.
One thing I do know is nothing keeps my ass covered and my res clean like aquashield. Every time I try something different I end up fucking myself and get slimed. Pondzyme worked too but I wasn't into the mushy chunks of barley. Also, if you do get a slime bloom, enzymes like pondzyme hygrozyme etc can potentially feed the slime and wreck your roots.
Something to consider is you don't want to run sterilizers because you will need bennies to break down the organic based elements into a usable form. This means, for me, I have to dechlorinate my water. It seems a lot of people just use tap water with no problems, but I have proven to myself more times than I care to that my bennies die and my roots go to shit if I do not dechlorinate... every single time without fail. So, you may find you need to run R/O or use a tap water conditioner like API (Petsmart).
All that said... I'm pretty stoned and talking out my ass a bit; so there's that...
Silica, bennies, cal/mag is stuff you want to have on hand anyway whether it's botanicare or not.
Foliar spray (Liquid Karma), carbs (Sweet), bud hardners / bloom boosters (Hydroplex), flushing agents (Clearex) are not required with a complete base nute & tuned ppm, and are pretty much up to you.
I have never used their base nutes, so can't say how that goes, but if ss says it's good shit, you're pretty safe. Hell, you guys have me thinking about the shit now... I've been wanting to go more organic mostly for flavor, and Botanicare seems like the best compromise you can get in DWC. The thought of organic coco hempy bucket or soil is just not doing it for me. At the moment, I'm dialed in with DG bloom and protekt and don't want to go dicking with shit that works.
One thing I do know is nothing keeps my ass covered and my res clean like aquashield. Every time I try something different I end up fucking myself and get slimed. Pondzyme worked too but I wasn't into the mushy chunks of barley. Also, if you do get a slime bloom, enzymes like pondzyme hygrozyme etc can potentially feed the slime and wreck your roots.
Something to consider is you don't want to run sterilizers because you will need bennies to break down the organic based elements into a usable form. This means, for me, I have to dechlorinate my water. It seems a lot of people just use tap water with no problems, but I have proven to myself more times than I care to that my bennies die and my roots go to shit if I do not dechlorinate... every single time without fail. So, you may find you need to run R/O or use a tap water conditioner like API (Petsmart).
All that said... I'm pretty stoned and talking out my ass a bit; so there's that...
Doer
Well-Known Member
How big is your air pump?
How many sites do you support?
How many liters of nutes do you circulate?
What wattage have you going?
How much air volume in the room?
What is cold to you?
Had any root rot, yet?
Can you see how you're question can have many answers?
Doer
Well-Known Member
Been throwing in a little Orca for the myco side. For me the trick is to get the babies rooted after that, it us pretty
stable. If I screw that up, she will never realize potential.
superstoner1
Well-Known Member
I dont run chillers either and i have 4-50gal res and 4-6 5gal dwc going at all times. my res temps are regulated by room temp. They start lights on around 67-68 and when the lights go off they are around 72. Bennies work.
burgertime2010
Well-Known Member
I am also starting up my first ebb and flow setup....transplanted yesterday into rockwool chum and am running A/B veg, liquid Karma, great white, silica at 400ppm. I have a lot of time put into coco and wanted something new, a little more clean, and to see how the other half lives. In a hydro setup what am I going for in a totally dialed environment? Coco has quirks that do not apply so I was just curious about ph swings, res temps, ideal ph, and anything really.
Doer
Well-Known Member
Well, damn. I think of switching to coco cor. But, I decided I think I know my problem.
Rushing the beginning. RDWC has its own challenges. But, I tend to fail before I get there.
So, it doesn't matter really, it is not easy to set up a repeating system, as you know. I saw a video
the other day, because I am always reviewing. This is one I saw before and got some good hints and
implemented.
Roots. All roots. All the time.. I hand cleaned the roots of this last batch from an early Pythium infestation. I still lost 1/2 of them....not lost just very low yield.
So, I got 6 more Train Wreaks, and just sat them on the kitchen counter, still 2, to a little plastic bag. In a high box, in a bag. Very indirect light. Did nothing.
And this morning they continue to grow. I can see a few more millimeters above the box top.
So, the new hint for me is those first few weeks cannot be rushed. This guy let his root out in a cup until they are slightly root bound. Then he plants for Veg in Hydro.
And finally I am where:
I will harvest 3 next week.
I have 3 clones ready, 3 I had to cut back for rushing with no roots yet.
I have 30 seeds in 3 varieties including finally, White Widow.
And I have 6 pristine clones still in the box to try to learn a passable, 8 weeks of Veg.
And, I am afraid to do anything.
That is a good thing, I finally see.
It is the Oath. First, do no harm.
Rushing the beginning. RDWC has its own challenges. But, I tend to fail before I get there.
So, it doesn't matter really, it is not easy to set up a repeating system, as you know. I saw a video
the other day, because I am always reviewing. This is one I saw before and got some good hints and
implemented.
Roots. All roots. All the time.. I hand cleaned the roots of this last batch from an early Pythium infestation. I still lost 1/2 of them....not lost just very low yield.
So, I got 6 more Train Wreaks, and just sat them on the kitchen counter, still 2, to a little plastic bag. In a high box, in a bag. Very indirect light. Did nothing.
And this morning they continue to grow. I can see a few more millimeters above the box top.
So, the new hint for me is those first few weeks cannot be rushed. This guy let his root out in a cup until they are slightly root bound. Then he plants for Veg in Hydro.
And finally I am where:
I will harvest 3 next week.
I have 3 clones ready, 3 I had to cut back for rushing with no roots yet.
I have 30 seeds in 3 varieties including finally, White Widow.
And I have 6 pristine clones still in the box to try to learn a passable, 8 weeks of Veg.
And, I am afraid to do anything.
That is a good thing, I finally see.
It is the Oath. First, do no harm.
Doer
Well-Known Member
Let the pH swing in hydro. The nute uptake is banded across several pH readings. Some additives change pH big time.
Ryzomtonic and Silica are big changers. And the Silica depend on brand. I use Blast, like superstoner does.
So, how to do this? Keep notes. You will soon know what does what. I just make a spreadsheet.
I do, a one week feeding, then drain to waste on 70 liters. I use straight up 13% Potassium Hydroxide and Nitric Acid. I use it from a regular injection syringe. EYE PROTECTION. I know that the first one is 3 times stronger on pH that the second. I know it takes 3 cc to go one way and 1 cc to go the other, for example. Keep notes.
I set up the feeding on Sunday. And the nutes I maintain, with additives end up at about 5.7. I let that rise to 6.4 or so maybe but don't adjust it. Dump all water on Sunday. RO is required.
If the plumbing doesn't leak and I don't pump overboard behind my back on a loose hose end, Hydro is fun.
If you can get away with bens and no chiller, that is advanced. Anything more simple is more advanced.
See PetFlora's thread. Super simple and advanced.
burgertime2010
Well-Known Member
I am a sculptor, sometimes peices take as long as a cycle would. Some of the greatest wisdom is found in your words. Learning to step away, less is more, and ask when you need to. Pythium is treated by sterilization? I have gone heavy on innoculants as these clones were just planted but had extensive root systems in the trays. I have been very focused on root vigor thus far and I have many of the same nutrients. Keep ph between 5.8-6.4.....do I adjust it then? Dwc seems to be trouble for many who try it.....seems like a real pain.
Tokindaily37
Well-Known Member
I run tap but i de chlorinate it by letting it sit out 35+ hours constantly oxygenated, but yeah im a fox farm man at heart but might change after this first botanicure run, wth is bennys?
But yeah they might not all me necessary but then again all of this isnt technically "necessary" we just give the maximum value possible to plants wants, and since ill have the cash im just guna be a smart gardener and make the investment but hey if it gets great results ill have learned that, lol im stoned but Speaking of listen to this highdea Have we created like, well not created but utilized science of gardening more then oh about %99 of people youd say "garden" lol we tend to be using the best soils, grow methods(hydro) and you using the best nutrient and supplement lol like nobody else does that shit
Doer
Well-Known Member
I don't think it can be treated with sterilization. The setup can be sterilized, don't get me wrong, but the organism is ubiquitous and hardy except for a range of water temp and O2 saturation. Those work to set the environment against Pythium. So, I don't bother with sterile.
I use H2O2 at about 10% to clean out the cross pipes, and just reset the environment, between runs. I run the chillier at about 67F to keep the bens active a bit, but still under 70 for peace of mind.
Then the bens, are added insurance. Those work to occupy all the nutrient niches, to keep out any Pythium, as well as, produce auxins for that wonderful root system.
As far a adjusting pH, I just refer to this, the left one for Hydro and do nothing, but change the pond water every week, and start at 5.4 again.
You see that even above 7 pH there is uptake. But, the main thing is the Mn. Manganese, the orange bar. It shifts big time for Hydro down to 5.6 max. I try to pick that range back up every water change, by going much lower than the usual 5.8. You see you begin locking again below, 5.2.
DWC, can show massive growth if we get it right. Otherwise, it can be a problem. NFT is possibly more efficient, but not failsafe like a bucket of water.
Malevolence
New Member
Bennies are beneficial microbes like aquashield.
Doer
Well-Known Member
Well, it is probably good to add some fungi...myco type, and there are some fantastic Ben-crobes in Ancient Forest dirt from Alaska.
There is a thread pinned in Bubble-ponics that shows how to brew, ie, bloom these together as a root tonic.
Wow! It works. Feed a little molasses and bingo a bucket full, for a few pennies and an air stone.
There is a thread pinned in Bubble-ponics that shows how to brew, ie, bloom these together as a root tonic.
Wow! It works. Feed a little molasses and bingo a bucket full, for a few pennies and an air stone.